This invention relates to a flexible, material transporting hose and more particularly to an improved structure for such hose. This invention specifically relates to long length, fluid transporting hose for ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship refueling.
In supplying fuel to or receiving fuel from ships or other vessels, it has been customary to use long lengths of coupled hose strung between the ship and the shore or between ships. In order to prevent excessive tension at the ends of the hose lines, separate steel cables running parallel to the hose and connected thereto by means of eyelets on the couplings have been used to protect the hose from these tension forces. This procedure, however, is cumbersome and dangerous since two separate reels must be used, one for the hose and one for the cable. Furthermore, the cable often chafes the hose in deployment causing premature failure of the hose to occur. In other forms of refueling where the hose is deployed behind the stern of a moving ship the drag on the hose line due to friction causes the hose to elongate with the inside dimensions of the hose being significantly reduced. This results in the constriction of the hose opening thereby reducing the quantity of fuel flowing through the hose.
Because of the high stresses to which the hose is subjected, it has heretofore often been the practice in the construction of refueling hose to use a spiral-shaped, wire reinforcement within the hose. However, this hose structure tends to deform or kink when subjected to tension or tensile forces and the repeated bending forces caused by waves due to rough seas. In the prior art, Kuwabara U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,736 discloses a hose end structure of stranded wire reinforcement extending along the axial direction of the hose and disposed around its entire circumference. Although this structure increases the strength of the hose end, it is not suitable for the entire hose length since the hose will not be sufficiently flexible for reeling upon itself. For this reason, a hose construction of this type is not suitable for light or medium duty refueling hose, for example having an inside diameter of 6 or 7 inches.
The foregoing disadvantages have been overcome by the hose structure of the present invention which will be hereinafter described.